Don't bother taking a date to `Date Movie'

February 18, 2006|By Alison Neumer Lara, Special to the Tribune

"Date Movie," a send-up of romantic comedies, is as desperate for a laugh as its love-starved heroine is for Prince Charming. Writers Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, recycling what they learned from working on horror flick parody "Scary Movie," have created a mish-mash of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," "Hitch," "Meet the Parents," "Meet the Fockers" and "My Best Friend's Wedding." To that, add a furious stream of characters and scenes lifted from dozens of other films, including "Kill Bill," "Star Wars," "Pretty Woman," "Say Anything" and "The Birdcage," with any spare moments filled in by stomach-turning bathroom humor.

Julia Jones (played by Alyson Hannigan of "American Pie" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") is the big daughter of an inexplicably Greek/Indian/black/Japanese family, who falls for Grant Funkyerdoder (newcomer Adam Campbell), a British charmer a la Hugh Grant in every movie he does. On their way to the altar, the new couple encounter a few of the usual romantic comedy obstacles, including odd parents (Eddie Griffin and a more than passable Jennifer Coolidge vamping up the roles played by Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand in "Fockers") and the jealous ex-fiance who happens to be a sexpot (Australian pop star Sophie Monk doing a mean Nicollette Sheridan-meets-Paris Hilton).

Mostly "Date Movie" is a breathless parade of dumb jokes and weak satire. When is somebody going to tell these guys that you can't really parody a parody? Josh Meyers shows up as Napoleon Dynamite in a dream sequence wearing a "Don't Vote for Pedro" T-shirt and doing an exact reprisal of, well, Napoleon Dynamite? The gags quickly go from gross to lame. Somewhere between the cat humping a decayed corpse and Gandalf of "The Lord of the Rings" holding his crotch in pain while hissing "My precious," I wish I'd blacked out.

"Date Movie"

(star)

Directed by Aaron Seltzer; screenplay by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer; photographed by Shawn Maurer; edited by Paul Hirsch; music by David Kitay; production design by William A. Elliot; produced by Friedberg and Paul Schiff. A Twentieth Century Fox release; opened Friday. Running time: 1:25.